News

QDR: “Adapt, Reshape, and Rebalance”

—Amy McCullough3/5/2014

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The
2014 Quadrennial Defense Review—released Tuesday along with the President’s
Fiscal 2015 budget request—looks to “adapt, reshape, and rebalance” the US
military. Specifically, the 88-page document outlines three initiatives. The
first incorporates the priorities listed in the 2012 Defense Strategic
Guidance, such as the pivot to the Asia-Pacific region, into a “broader
strategic framework.” The new strategy is based upon three “pillars.” They are:
protect the homeland, build security globally, and project power and win
decisively, according to the document. Second, the QDR addresses the steps DOD is
taking to rebalance in light of current fiscal constraints and changes to
modern warfare. DOD must prepare for the full spectrum of possible military
operations, states the document. “Although our forces will no longer be sized
to conduct large-scale, prolonged stability operations,” DOD will “preserve the
expertise” gained in counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It
also will “protect the ability to regenerate capabilities that might be needed
to meet future demands,” states the QDR. Finally, the QDR addresses the need to
further control “internal cost growth that is threatening to erode our combat
power.” The QDR promises to maintain the “two-fold sacred contract” of properly
compensating and caring for military members and their families, while also
providing the “best training and equipment possible.” (Read the full
QDR; Caution, large-sized file.)